With the approach of summer, many home educators continue to look for activities to keep their kids learning, and occupied, through those long, steamy days. One place to try for some ideas is Wonderopolis, a site that attempts to ignite that natural curiosity in children by answering questions about-- and providing instructions for experimenting with -- various "wonders of the day," such as:

Virtual reality, in all its immersive and interactive glory, is being touted as the ultimate experiential device for a variety of fields, particularly education. Imagine homeschooling in VR. With your children, you could: tour destinations on earth or in the cosmos; study and manipulate 3-D anatomical, molecular, or geometric models; observe or participate in a historical event; explore daily life in Ancient Greece or Rome; analyze a piece of literature from the inside, as one of the characters; and many other possibilities. Using the technology in such a way would truly give new meaning to the phrase “learning by doing.”

Yet, despite the hype, virtual reality is nowhere near the cool level of sophistication of the Star Trek Holodeck. Nor are VR educational programs widely available and affordable to the masses. (Purchasing ordinary curricula and learning resources is costly enough, let alone shoveling out for expensive VR packages). Alas, when it comes to immersive simulations, most of us are still restricted to the imaginary realms of role plays and reenactments, (virtual worlds in their own right).

Still, even without computerized aids, pretending to be someone in a particular place and time can be both educational and fun (as many homeschoolers who act out history can attest to). Such experiential exercises may help learners to understand situations or concepts on a deeper level, providing them with a breadth and depth of perspective that doesn’t come from merely reading.

Although anchored in the real-world, the following free group activities can encourage active learning by putting kids “in the moment”:

Revolutionary Dinner Party: Become colonists during the Revolutionary War period. Host a dinner party for some "famous faces," and select the food and music for the night, and write a dialogue of a conversation you might hear.

Creating a Government: Stranded on an island with no chance of rescue, you must come up with rules for your community, and in the process, learn about different forms of government, and challenges faced when forming a government. (14-page download)

Civil War Children: See through the eyes of children in the North and South during the Civil War by reading excerpts from actual journals.

Reconstruction Convention: Step into the roles of historical figures during the time of Reconstruction and defend viewpoints on a number of issues.

Battle Simulations: At a site called JuniorGeneral.org, you can download, for free, paper armies and select scenarios with instructions and background to recreate particular battles, from ancient to modern times. Here’s a look at how a teacher used the site’s materials to recreate the Greeks vs. Persians at the Battle of Marathon. Epic.

Trench Warfare: Learn about conditions fighting in the trenches during World War I. There's a link to a Trench Warfare animation that’s good for background and for recreating sound effects.

If I Were President: Role play the President and key advisors while exploring the decision making process of the Executive Branch. Includes simulation material, role cards, instructional powerpoint, and handouts.

Mini Mock Trials: Learn about trial procedure, with several cases to choose from. Includes a mock trial manual and handouts.

Feudal Candy: Become nobles, vassals and peasants to learn about the power structure of the Middle Ages.

I've been thinking about how Google has become increasingly omnipresent in our homeschool. Besides Chrome being my main browser, and Google, my default search engine -- (BTW: here’s a useful infographic with tipsfor doing better searches) -- there’s Gmail, of course, and social sharing through G+, plus all the tools relating to them, such as:

Google Calendar

I’ve always done “paperless planning,” -- creating, in Word, my own at-a-glance templates showing two grades at once – which, I figured, was mildly clever. Then I read about how some much more clever homeschoolers were using Google Calendar, and I made the switch. Although late to the party, I'm glad I finally arrived. Now, I have a calendar for each kid, and it’s very easy for them to just click into each subject and see what they’re doing that day. I attach any documents or websites we’re using, so all the information is in one convenient place. The calendar can also be set to send reminders via Gmail.

Google Docs

Google Docs are awesome tools for creating your own paperless lessons/worksheets on any topic. You can include links to videos and other resources, embed images, charts, and drawings, and include questions your learner can fill in right in the same doc. Here's an example. Click on the image to go to the document.

The sharing aspects of Google Docs are particularly useful. For example, If you make a copy of the above document, you can edit it: use it as is, or tweak it to suit your needs. Or make a copy and delete the resource areas so you have a blank to use as a template. It's a neat way for homeschoolers to share resources.

Group Learning With Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts is a text and video chat tool that can be used with a closed group, like a literature discussion circle. While I haven’t used this yet, I think it would have worked well for some co-op classes I was involved in. Our co-op met two or three Fridays a month, and one of the challenges we experienced, especially with ongoing projects, was keeping the kids engaged during the weeks we did not meet. We could have used Hangouts during those off weeks to brainstorm, collaborate, plan, and keep everyone on track, particularly in our video production class, and our journalism class where we were creating our own newsletters.

Even More Google Sites

As if that’s not enough, there is a diverse and ever-growing list of Google-related sites we’ve used, or will be using, at some point, such as:

Google Maps and Street View, which we’ve used to follow the travels of Dan and Amy Cahill as they hunt for the 39 Clues.

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Google Earth Walkswhich has several math, science and social studies tours students can take. They can fly to locations and answer pop-up questions along the way. Many of the walks have answer keys.

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US History Tours, also powered by Google Earth, enables you to visit and answer questions about historical events such as the American Revolution, the Lewis and Clark expedition, Civil War battles, and others.

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RealWorld Mathenables students to take the math concepts they’re learning and apply them to a variety of tasks using information, images and tools in Google Earth. One lesson gives students practice solving volume problems using some famous geometric places (the Great Pyramid of Giza; the Leaning Tower of Pisa; the World Trade Center site). Other activities include: calculating time zone differences; estimating and measuring distances between landmarks, and others.

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GeoGuessershows you a street view image of someplace in the world and you have to guess where you are by searching for clues in the picture (street signs, stores, people, etc.) You can narrow things down by continent, country, city and famous places, but it’s still pretty challenging. You can play by yourself, or email a challenge to a friend. When you’re both done with the contest, the results are emailed to you.

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Google Maps Treks has lots of sites to explore, with great images and panoramic views.

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My Maps can be used to make your own maps, (like, potential sites for my Eagle project). You can use different colors and markers to label locations. And, since it’s Google, your map can be shared with others if you’re doing group learning or collaboration.

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STEMBite, a YouTube Channel started by a teacher who uses Google Glass to provide a first-person perspective on such topics as the physics of toys, chemistry in the kitchen, and biology in the backyard.